Rail-joint



J. W. WEBB.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1919. RENEWED DEC- 27, I920.

Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

. 5 1g .7. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. 74 I 5 1. w. WEBB.

RAIL 10m. Arrucm on FILED mnao. 1919. nEuEwEn DEC. 27. i92o 1,371,585. Pa ent d Mar- 15, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES JOHN W. WEBB, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

- RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

Application filed January 30, 1919, Serial No. 274,034. Renewed December 27, 1920. Serial No. 433,559.

of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail- Joints, of which the following is a specification.

In the construction of railway tracks it has been found extremely difiicult to form a satisfactory joint between the meeting ends of the T-rails which form the track. In order to allow for expansion and contraction it is usual and desirable that the rails shall not quite meet, and the weight of the engines and cars as they approach and pass over a joint causes an intermittent flexure of the rails which gives rise to an objectionable and injurious thumping and pounding of the wheels upon the ends of 2c the rails. It is the object of my invention to provide a rail joint which shall permit the very slight degree of longitudinal movement due to variations in temperature, but which shall firmly secure the adjacent ends of two rails against relative vertical movement, thus overcoming or reducing the objections above mentioned and prolonging the life of the rails. To this end I have devised and invented the rail joint strucao ture hereinafter more particularly described, the essential elements of my invention being pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of the ends of two adjacent rails and associated parts embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is side view of the parts shown in Fig. 1, as viewed from the outer side of the rails; Fig. 4 is also a view from the outer side, but with the outer fish plate removed and a pair of wedge bars shown in section; Fig. 5 is a perspective of one of the fish plate members; Fig. 6 is a perspective of one of the wedge bars; and Fig.

7 is a perspective of the adjacent ends of the rails and an intermediate locking block, shown separated.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures of the drawing.

In carrying out my invention I connect the adjacent ends of two rails of a track by means of an interposed block arranged to interlock with the ends of both rails,

through which relative displacement in a vertical direction is restrained, the joint be ing further strengthened and stiffened by a fish plate device of novel construction and arrangement which constitutes one of the maln features of my invention. The base and web of the opposed ends of two adjacent ralls 1 and 2 are similarly cut (see Figs. 1, 4: and 7) with a series of transverse grooves forming tenons 3, and the top of each rail is formed with a semicircular socket 4, having a semi-annular groove 4: at the bottom for the escape of sand. The connecting block 5 (which may conveniently be formed of a short section cut from a standard rail) is formed with complementary grooves or notches forming tenons 6 adapted to interlock with the tenons 3 of the rails, and a disk-shaped block 7 at the top adapted to be received in the recesses 4. The parts are formed to fit snugly together and afford a considerable degree of frictional resistance, but not suflicient to interfere with relative'movement due to expansion and contraction arising from changes in temperature.

The upper portions of the fish plates 8 may be of the usual form, having upper and lower faces adapted to engage respectively the under side of the head of the rail and the top of the base, and are drawn together by a pair of bolts 9 in the usual manner, the plates being short enough to lie in the space between two adjacent ties, one near the end of each rail. To adapt the plates to my invention, the lower, outer edge of the base of each plate is formed with a depending flange 10. This flange is formed with a pair of openings, the bottom edge of each opening inclining slightly upward from near thecenter of the opening toward the center of the plate to form a wedge face. In order to form a better supporting surface for the wedge bars to be next described, the openings are preferably formed by punching through the material at the sides and top of the opening, the tongue so formed being bent horizontally to provide flanged continuations 11-11 of the wedge faces of the opening. The wedge bars just mentioned, of which there are two, numbered 1212 are preferably rectangular in cross-section near their outer ends, and are arranged to extend transversely of the fish plates through the openings therein. Adj acent the wedge faces of the openings, that is, along the center portion of the bars, each bar is cut away to form a correspondingly inclined face 13 adapted to bear uniformly on the wedge faces of the openings in the plates. The shoulders on opposite sides of the cutaway portion of the bar, it may be noted, are useful in holding the bars in cenmovement required, and, fur-the, that by tightening up the bolts 14 the flanged bases at the sides of'the rails will be securely gripped and clamped by the wedge bars and the inclined faces of the intermediate portion of the fish plates, adding a further degree of frictional resistance to endwise movement, but not entirely preventing it, and also restraining the connected parts from-relative vertical movement. I claim: I j p 1. In combination with two adjacent rails of a track, a pair of fish plates formed with depending flanges having openings, the bottoms of such openings forming wedge surfaces, a pair of transverse bars arranged in terme'diate said wedge faces and the bases of the rails, one bar extending under each rail, and clamping bolts arranged to draw said bars against said wedge surfaces.

1 2. A rail joint structure" according to claim 1 in which the metal at the bottom of each opening in the fish plates is extended laterally in the form of a tongue, the up- .per face of said tongue forming a portion of the wedging surface.

claim 1 in which the transverse bars are 7 each rectangular at their outer ends and cut away between the fish plates to seat slidingly on the wedge openings in such plates. I r w in combination-with two rails having their adjacent enos grooved and with a grooved connecting block making interlockg connection between such ends, a pair of f sh plates having upper portions connected by lateral bolts extending through the webs the rails and having intermediate portions bearing on the top of the bases of the rails and shaving downwardly extending flange portions, and clamping means on said flanges arranged to bear against the bottom of the rails. I w

6. In combination with tworails having their adjacent ends horizontally tongued and grooved and with a tongued and grooved connecting block making interlockconnection between such ends, said tongue and groove connections fitting with a snug frictional contact, a pair of fish plates having upper portions connected by V lateral bolts extending through the webs of the rails and having intermediate portions bearing on the top of the bases of the rails and having downwardly extending flange portions, and clamping means on said flanges arranged to bear against the bottom oftherails. r JOHN W. WEBB'. 

